Primary delivers outsider victory

Former wrestling CEO wins GOP Senate vote in Conn.

by David Espo - Aug. 11, 2010 12:00 AMAssociated Press

WASHINGTON - Appointed Sen. Michael Bennet won the Democratic nomination to a full term in Colorado on Tuesday night, overcoming a fierce primary challenge at home and an outbreak of anti-establishment fever nationwide. In Connecticut, Linda McMahon easily won the Republican Senate primary to join the slate of outsider-candidates who will carry the GOP banner this fall.

McMahon, former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, will face Democratic Attorney General Richard Blumenthal in the fall.

On a four-state primary night, former Rep. Nathan Deal led ex-Secretary of State Karen Handel narrowly in late returns in a Republican gubernatorial runoff in Georgia. The two vied for the right to take on former Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes.

In Minnesota, conservative state Rep. Tom Emmer easily won the Republican nomination for governor. Four Democrats sought the opposing spot on the ballot.

In Colorado, Bennet was gaining 54 percent of the vote compared with 45 percent for Andrew Romanoff, a former speaker of the state House, as he defied a trend that has dealt defeat to a half-dozen U.S. Senate and House incumbents in other states.

Bennet was appointed to his seat nearly two years ago when Ken Salazar resigned to become Interior secretary in the Obama administration. Romanoff had hoped for the appointment, and he spurned entreaties from senior party officials to skip the race with Bennet.

In an intense campaign, both men sought the mantle of political outsider. Yet each relied on very well-known establishment politicians to help them: President Barack Obama in Bennet's case and former President Bill Clinton in Romanoff's.

That vote was seen as another blow to politicians with close connections to Washington. Norton was endorsed by GOP leadership and co-chaired John McCain's presidential campaign two years ago in Colorado.

McMahon will begin the fall campaign as the underdog in Connecticut, although she has vowed to spend as much as $50 million of her own money in hopes of capturing a seat long held by retiring Democrat Chris Dodd.

The two rivals could not be less alike - he the longtime statewide officeholder and she the political neophyte whose rise is part of a nationwide political trend that favors outsiders. Among her primary victims was former Rep. Rob Simmons, who began the primary campaign as the favorite and fell so far behind that he suspended his candidacy earlier in the year.

Simmons rejoined the race in recent weeks as attacks focused on the sometimes raunchy scenes that are part of WWE's appeal, but McMahon was gaining nearly 49 percent of the vote in a three-way race with returns counted from nearly 60 percent of the state's precincts.

Among the Democrats, former Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy defeated businessman Ned Lamont for the nomination. It was Lamont's second try for statewide office and far quieter than his other. He won a Senate primary four years ago in one of the standout races of the 2006 campaign, upsetting Sen. Joe Lieberman, who then won a new term in the fall as an independent.

Tom Foley, a businessman and former U.S. ambassador to Ireland, won a three-way race for the Republican nomination.

In Minnesota, Emmer awaited the outcome of a multicandidate primary to learn the identity of his opponent for the fall.

Democrats there have not elected a governor in nearly a quarter-century, and House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher led in a three-way race for a chance to end the slide. She had 43 percent of the vote, with results counted from about one-third of the state's precincts. Former Sen. Mark Dayton, her closest pursuer, trailed narrowly with 38 percent.

Five rivals vied for the independent line on the fall ballot - in a state where Jesse Ventura was elected governor a dozen years ago as a third-party contender. Tom Horner, a public-relations executive, lapped the field, but he drew only a few thousand votes, far fewer than either Emmer or any of the leading Democrats.

In Colorado, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper was unopposed for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

Republican rivals Dan Maes, a businessman, and former Rep. Scott McInnis were locked in a close race.

McInnis has acknowledged receiving $300,000 as part of a foundation fellowship for a water-study report that was partly plagiarized. Maes has paid $17,500 for violating campaign-finance laws.

The spectacle prompted former Rep. Tom Tancredo to jump into the race as an independent.